AURIZON CONCLUDES TALKS WITH UNIONS

Both parties reached an agreement on the Construction and Maintenance Enterprise Agreement, involving issues similar to the recently negotiated Train Crew and Transport Operators contract.

The new agreement has abolished the provision regarding no forced redundancies, allowing the rail freight operator to manage staff according to its workload.

The majority of employees will have rail passes revoked, while staff who have notched more than 25 years of service will be eligible for long distance travel until 2018.

A key measure introduced includes a 4 per cent pay increase each year for three years, in return for significant productivity enhancements and work flexibility in rostering.

Aurizon says in a statement "a small number of other matters remain unresolved" with the unions, however the business plans to conduct a formal ballot with employees.

State-wide employee briefing sessions on both the Train Crew and Transport Operators agreement and the Construction and Maintenance agreement will start this week. Formal ballots are scheduled in July.

Pending a positive vote, both agreements would then be lodged with the Fair Work Commission and implemented in August.

There are about 1800 employees in Queensland that are covered by the Construction and Maintenance agreement and 1700 under the Train Crew and Transport Operators agreement.